Inside Out

Cricket WORKSHEET A

Cricket, although loved by millions of people, is not one of the easiest sports to
understand. Indeed, the game has lots of subtle complexities, and it’s probably fair to
say that (1) ______________ tend to be quite proud of them.
The sport originated in England and spread to (3) ____________________________ ,
hence its popularity today in countries such as Australia (the current world
champions), New Zealand, India, Pakistan, South Africa, and many of the islands of
the Caribbean.
You could perhaps describe cricket as being a bit similar to (5) ______________ , but
cricket fans probably wouldn’t appreciate the comparison as they tend to see their
game as much more sophisticated!
The basic facts of cricket are that it is played on a (7) ______________ -shaped grass
field (usually at least 50% bigger than the average football pitch) by two teams of (9)
______________ players who take it in turns to ‘bat’ and to ‘field’.
The batting team has two of its players on the pitch at any one time, and the objective
of these ‘batsmen’ is to (11) _____________________ as possible. To score runs the
batsman uses a wooden bat (heavier than a baseball bat, with a wider end) to hit a ball
(slightly bigger than a tennis ball, but made of leather and therefore heavier) that is
thrown by the member of the fielding team known as the ‘bowler’. Unlike in baseball,
the bowler has to make the ball (13) ______________ before it reaches the batsman.
The bowler tries to get the batsman ‘out’, which usually happens in one of three ways:
if the ball hits the ‘wicket’ (three vertical pieces of wood, about (15) _______ high)
that the batsman stands in front of; if the batsman uses his leg instead of his bat to
block a ball that would have hit the wicket; or if one of the members of the fielding
team catches the ball, after the batsman has hit it.
When ten of a team’s players are out, or when the bowling team has thrown the ball a
certain number of times, it is the other team’s turn to bat. The team that scores more
runs is the winner.
The longest cricket matches last for (17) ______________ , and it’s undeniable that
these games can be rather slow – they’re certainly a long way from the non-stop
action of basketball, for example. However, faster-moving matches, lasting one day or
just a few hours, are also very popular.

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 Inside Out
Cricket WORKSHEET B

Cricket, although loved by millions of people, is not one of the easiest sports to
understand. Indeed, the game has lots of subtle complexities, and it’s probably fair to
say that cricket fans tend to be quite proud of them.
The sport originated in (2) ______________ and spread to many parts of the former
British Empire, hence its popularity today in countries such as (4) ______________
(the current world champions), New Zealand, India, Pakistan, South Africa, and many
of the islands of the Caribbean.
You could perhaps describe cricket as a being bit similar to baseball, but
(6) ______________ probably wouldn’t appreciate the comparison as they tend to see
their game as much more sophisticated!
The basic facts of cricket are that it is played on a roughly oval-shaped grass field
(usually at least 50% bigger than (8) ______________________ ) by two teams of
eleven players who take it in turns to ‘bat’ and to ‘field’.
The batting team has (10) ______________ of its players on the pitch at any one time,
and the objective of these ‘batsmen’ is to score as many ‘runs’ as possible. To score
runs the batsman uses a (12) ______________ (heavier than a baseball bat, with a
wider end) to hit a ball (slightly bigger than a tennis ball, but made of leather and
therefore heavier) that is thrown by the member of the fielding team known as the
‘bowler’. Unlike in baseball, the bowler has to make the ball bounce off the pitch
before it reaches the batsman.
The bowler tries to (14) __________________ , which usually happens in one of
three ways: if the ball hits the ‘wicket’ (three vertical pieces of wood, about seventy
centimetres high) that the batsman stands in front of; if the batsman uses his leg
instead of his bat to block a ball that would have hit the wicket; or if one of the
members of the fielding team catches the ball, after the batsman has hit it.
When ten of a team’s players are out, or when the bowling team has thrown the ball a
certain number of times, (16) _________________________ . The team that scores
more runs is the winner.
The longest cricket matches last for five days, and it’s undeniable that these games
can be rather slow – they’re certainly a long way from the non-stop action of
basketball, for example. However, faster-moving matches, lasting
(18) ______________________ , are also very popular.

This page has been downloaded from www.insideout.net.

It is photocopiable, but all copies must be complete pages. Copyright © Macmillan Publishers Limited 2008.
 Inside Out
Cricket WORKSHEET C

Exercise 1

Team A

Write questions to find out the missing information in the text on Worksheet A.

1. Who ____________________________________________________________?

3. Where ___________________________________________________________?

5. What ____________________________________________________________?

7. What ____________________________________________________________?

9. How many ________________________________________________________?

11. What ___________________________________________________________?

13. What ___________________________________________________________?

15. How ____________________________________________________________?

17. How ____________________________________________________________?

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Team B

Write questions to find out the missing information in the text on Worksheet B.

2. Where ____________________________________________________________?

4. Which country / Who ________________________________________________?

6. Who _____________________________________________________________?

8. What _____________________________________________________________?

10. How many _______________________________________________________?

12. What ____________________________________________________________?

14. What ____________________________________________________________?

16. What happens _____________________________________________________?

18. How long _________________________________________________________?

This page has been downloaded from www.insideout.net.

It is photocopiable, but all copies must be complete pages. Copyright © Macmillan Publishers Limited 2008.
 Inside Out
Cricket WORKSHEET D

Exercise 2

Now fill in the gaps to complete the text.

Cricket, although loved by millions of people, is not one of the (1) _ _ _ i _ st sports
to understand. Indeed, the game has lots of (2) s _ _ _ le complexities, and it’s
probably fair to say that cricket fans tend to be quite (3) _ r _ _ d of them.
The sport (4) _ r _ _ _ _ _ _ ed in England and spread to many parts of the former
British (5) _ _ _ _ re, hence its popularity today in countries such as Australia (the
current world champions), New Zealand, India, Pakistan, South Africa, and many of
the islands of the Caribbean.
You could perhaps describe cricket as being a bit similar to baseball, but cricket fans
probably wouldn’t (6) a _ _ _ ec _ _ t _ the comparison as they (7) _ _ _ d to see their
game as much more (8) _ oph _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _!
The basic facts of cricket are that it is played on a roughly (9) o _ _ l-shaped grass
field (usually at least 50% bigger than the average football pitch) by two teams of
eleven players who take it in (10) _ _ _ ns to ‘bat’ and to ‘field’.
The batting team has two of its players on the pitch at any one time, and the objective
of these ‘batsmen’ is to (11) sc _ _ _ as many ‘runs’ as possible. To score runs the
batsman uses a (12) _ _ _ _ en bat (heavier than a baseball bat, with a wider
(13) _ n _) to hit the ball (slightly bigger than a tennis ball, but made of
(14) l _ _ th _ _ and therefore heavier) that is (15) t _ _ _ w _ by the member of the
fielding team known as the ‘bowler’. Unlike in baseball, the bowler has to make the
ball bounce off the pitch before it (16) _ eac _ _ _ the batsman.
The bowler tries to get the batsman ‘out’, which usually happens in one of three ways:
if the ball hits the ‘wicket’ (three vertical pieces of wood, about seventy centimetres
high) that the batsman stands in front of; if the batsman uses his leg instead of his bat
to (17) bl _ _ _ a ball that would have hit the wicket; or if one of the members of the
fielding team (18) _ _ tch _ _ the ball, after the batsman has hit it.
When ten of a team’s players are out, or when the bowling team has thrown the ball a
certain number of times, it is the other team’s turn to bat. The team that scores more
runs is the (19) _ _ _ _ er.
The longest cricket matches last for five days, and it’s undeniable that these games
can be rather slow – they’re certainly a long way from the non-stop (20) _ _ _ _ on of
basketball, for example. However, faster-moving matches, lasting one day or just a
few hours, are also very popular.

This page has been downloaded from www.insideout.net.

It is photocopiable, but all copies must be complete pages. Copyright © Macmillan Publishers Limited 2008.